Thinking back over 2022, which was equal parts wonderful and horrible, what software did I use? Did I use any at all? Was all my computer-related stuff done inside a browser?
A lot of it was, yes. But here are apps I used on my Mac and PC regularly or semi-regularly in 2022.
Windows and Mac:
- Obsidian. I’ve bounced around note-taking apps for a long time, trying to find one that could serve as a storehouse for all of my many random thoughts and lists, but everything I tried always had some flaw (quite often the “flaw” was being Apple-only, as I spend most of my desktop time in Windows). I tried Obsidian, and it had some immediate appeal: Free! Mac and PC compatible! Works on iPad*! Markdown! Local files, you don’t need the cloud! Links links links! In reality, there are issues with Obsidian, too. It only works on iPad if you’re willing to use iCloud as the intermediary. It gets very weird if you don’t, so I just use it on Mac and Windows, and don’t take notes on the iPad. But between an array of handy plugins and relative simplicity, I’ve grown comfortable using it and will stick with it, at least until something else shiny and new gets my interest.
- TickTick and To Do. First, To Do is a terrible name for a to-do app. It’s too (ho ho) on the nose and hard to search for. Microsoft should have just kept calling it Wunderlist. In fact, they should have just kept Wunderlist instead of killing it and making To Do with the same team. That said, To Do is also free, and I’ve settled on it as my main checklist/GTD app. Runner-up is TickTick, which I used for a year, but I let the sub lapse in my great Culling of 2022. I’ve poked around it again recently, so this battle is not yet over.
- Microsoft Word. Mostly because I had to, to send documents off to others to read. This may be the biggest use case of Word these days. I otherwise don’t use it for any writing. It’s fine.
- Diarium. I gave up Day One (Apple-only, subscription required for all practical intents) for Diarium, which is a pay-once app and covers what I need for a journal. Like To Do, the name is terrible, but in this case because it sounds like a series of unpleasant trips to the bathroom.
- Firefox. Still using good ol’ Firefox. I peek at Edge occasionally, but Microsoft seems intent on taking a good browser and larding it with cruft, ads and junk.
- Affinity Photo 2 and Affinity Designer 2. This was the year I really dove into vector graphics with Designer, though I still have oodles to learn.
- Luminar AI. For some photos, I like using the effects in Luminar to create reality that’s just a little heightened.
- Bitwarden. To manage passwords and other security-related info.
- Blender. Still learning this, will be using it more in 2023.
- Visual Studio 2022. I can now remember that C# is case-sensitive!
- Unity. I’m completing a game in 2023. Or else!
- DaVinci Resolve. I have only edited one full video in this, but it’s for a game on Steam!
- iA Writer. Largely superseded by Obsidian now, but still a good app with a nicely minimalist interface. The Windows version lags way behind the Mac version, though. It almost feels abandoned at this point.
- Signal. I use this to chat with a few people. I love some of the weird/funny sticker packs (Roo!). I don’t love that I can’t correct my typos in sent messages.
- Discord. To chat with the gaming crew I’ve known for 20+ (!) years.
- Outlook ended up being my one-stop for email by year’s end. I use the web client, since the Windows version is in a weird place, caught between the old and new Outlook. It’s fine, but nothing special. I liked a lot of what HEY does, but finally felt I could no longer give money to a company run by a couple of techbro poopheads who elevate people like Elon Musk.
- Steam. For the games I play. Epic Games Launcher for the copious free games they hand out. And sometimes for the games I play.
- OneDrive. To manage files between the Mac, PC and iPad. I have a subscription to Microsoft 365, so get one terabyte of storage. I’m not sure if this counts as software on Windows, since it’s so tightly integrated with the OS. By comparison, it’s a little clunky on the Mac.
Windows-only:
- Windows Media Player. The new version is pretty good. I use this to play my non-streaming music. For streaming on PC, I’ll use Cider, which is an Apple Music-like app, or, grudgingly (since it supports downloads) the crusted relic known as iTunes. It’s so bad. Apple is going to make Apple Music for Windows available in 2023, which will be an improvement, but a) Why didn’t they do this years ago? and b) The Apple Music app isn’t that great, either.
- PowerToys. I use several power toys regularly, like Color Picker, File Explorer add-ons, Text Extractor and more. Very handy stuff.
- Notepad. Yes! It’s surprising how useful it can be.
- I use ShareX to grab screenshots in Windows. It’s free and works well. I take a lot of screenshots.
- Weather. Yes, Windows’ built-in weather app. It’s pretty good! It’s had a bug where weather alerts display without text for a few months, though, so boo on that.
- Clipboard History. Technically, this may not be an app, but it’s built-in, awesome and everyone should use it. Windows + V = handy!
Mac-only:
I spend less time on the Mac, but here are the Mac-specific apps I used this year:
- Ulysses. I begrudgingly resubscribed, because it doesn’t have any good alternatives. Obsidian comes close, sort of, and I’m noodling around with Typora. But no other text editor seems designed first for fiction writers, rather than coders or technical writers. I mean, Scrivener does, but it’s a sprawling, ugly mess of an app in comparison.
- CleanShot X. My app for taking Mac screenshots. I really like it, though I think the corner icons on its pop-in window were designed for 20-year-olds with eagle vision and could use a re-think.
- Weather. Macs now have a built-in weather app and it’s perfectly decent. I actually prefer the aesthetics of the Windows app, which shows how far Windows has come since Steve Jobs accused all of Microsoft of having no taste.
- Bartender. To keep the menu bar tidy.
- Raycast. I’m only scratching its surface, but it’s a very nice Spotlight-on-steroids.
- Pixelmator Pro. My go-to for editing photos on the Mac.
- Tot. For quick notes in the menu bar.
- CopyClip (clipboard viewer, though now replaced by Raycast)